U.S. Unemployment Claims Total 6.6 Million Last Week

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits continued to surge at record levels, bringing the total number of applications to nearly 17 million since the coronavirus pandemic shut down swaths of the U.S. economy.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that another 6.6 million people submitted applications for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 4. That is on top of a revised 6.9 million in the prior week, a record, and 3.3 million the week before.

Another key measurement of joblessness showed a record 7.5 million Americans were receiving unemployment...